It's the off-season at the lonely Beauregard Hotel in Bournemoth, and only the long-term tenants are still in residence. Life is stirred up, however, when the beautiful Ann Shankland arrives to see her alcoholic ex-husband, John Malcolm, who is secretly engaged to Pat Cooper, the woman who runs the hotel. Meanwhile, snobbish Mrs Railton-Bell discovers that the kindly if rather doddering Major Pollock, played by David Niven, who won an Oscar for his performance, a retired officer who likes to find out more...

Just simply the best musical ever made. Witty, inventive, brilliant, wonderful and slightly surreal; it manages to parody Hollywood without ever quite descending into self-parody, always retaining its dignity (always dignity...) A must-watch every few years or so.